Free Republic

Small businesses are citing the highest levels of uncertainty since the COVID-19 pandemic, a concerning economic indicator. The National Federation of Independent Businesses released the survey of small businesses, which found that small business uncertainty spiked last month. NFIB keeps an “Uncertainty Index” which spiked 9 percentage points last month, hitting the highest level since November of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging and businesses were shutting down across the country. “The small business sector is responsible for the production of over 40% of GDP and employment, a crucial portion of the economy,” NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said...

Former President Donald Trump on Monday asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments in his bid to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the prosecution against him. The development is unusual in that appellate cases are typically decided by the court's review of written legal briefs. “We believe oral argument will assist the court by highlighting and clarifying the reasons why the case should be dismissed and Fulton County DA Willis should be disqualified for her misconduct,” Trump attorney Seve Sadow said, according to the Washington Examiner.

If the bird flu were to suddenly be transmissible from person-to-person, there would be every reason to suspect gain-of-function bioweapons research.But, all the hype about whether the bird flu will become a human pandemic might just be a distraction.There are certainly pharmaceutical companies that would benefit from a human bird flu pandemic, but the industry might make even more money “preventing” a human pandemic by vaccinating farm animals, especially the world’s 33 billion chickens.So far, the government’s response to the bird flu has been to kill millions of chickens–85.87 million birds killed since 2022.From an animal welfare perspective, it’s viciously...

The pro-Trump MAGA Inc. super PAC pointed out that Bidenomics is not a joke, referring to how food prices at restaurants have increased under President Joe Biden’s administration. In a press release from MAGA Inc. on Monday, the super PAC referenced a viral parody post on X which shows photos of former President Donald Trump at his rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, reading and criticizing the prices and items off of a Cheesecake menu. “This viral post might be a parody, but Bidenomics is no joke,” Alex Pfeiffer, the spokesman for MAGA Inc. wrote in the press release. “Prices at...

Not a single one of the signatories of the infamous spy letter that called reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop “Russian disinformation” ahead of the 2020 election has retracted their made-up claim, according to a report.The signatories, numbering 51 in total, apparently knew the claim was false at the time, because the FBI was in possession of Hunter’s laptop. Current Secretary of State Antony Blinken allegedly coordinated the story for political purposes.

CAL Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit helped rescue a stranded kite surfer, they announced on social media on Sunday. The kite surfer was rescued off a beach south of Davenport Landing. CAL FIRE says he used rocks on the beach to spell out "HELP." A private helicopter spotted him and they called 911. The kite surfer was safely extracted and did not need medical attention, per CAL FIRE on a social media post.

An innovative new combustion engine eliminates half the guts of a traditional engine, and uses a fascinating internally-rotating piston and sleeve arrangement, making it lighter, simpler and more efficient while still making strong power and torque. Michael Arsenaeu designed the Avadi engine 20 years ago in the hopes of creating an entirely new engine design to be efficient as well as reduce emissions. In 2015, Avadi began the build and development. Rotary might be a good name for this sort of engine, if the name wasn't already taken. Everything inside the crankcase rotates, but unlike a Wankel-style rotary engine, this...

Jury begins deliberations in Hunter Biden federal gun trial

June 10 (UPI) -- Three young boys out for a hike in North Dakota noticed something sticking out from the ground and were shocked to find out they had discovered a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil. Jessin and Liam Fisher, ages 10 and 7, were out hiking onNorth Dakota Bureau of Land Management land in the badlands, near Marmarth, with their cousin, Kaiden Madsen, 9, and their dad, Sam Fisher, when the family spotted an unusual object sticking out of the ground. They contacted Tyler Lyson, Sam Fisher's high school classmate and now the Curator of Paleontology for the Denver Museum of...

In the convoluted dumpster fire of contemporary politics, we find ourselves at a peculiar crossroads. Many self-proclaimed staunch conservatives are returning to vote for Trump, driven by a blend of party loyalty and apprehension about a Biden administration. Yet, some of these individuals are not content with their choice alone—they actively criticize and vilify those within their ranks who choose a different path. To understand this phenomenon, let’s draw upon the insights of Eric Hoffer and Gustave Le Bon, which offer a deeper lens into the dynamics at play.Today, like every other day over the last several weeks, I've awakened...

A pro-Palestinian protester screamed “I am Hamas!” during a demonstration outside the White House on Saturday as she confronted members of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) as they interviewed both pro- and anti-Israel activists. The video, filmed by Jasmyn Jordan of YAF, showed an unhinged protester, wearing a kaffiyeh, shouting that Hamas had not raped Israelis and that Israeli soldiers had, in fact, raped Palestinians. (Both claims are false). As Breitbart News reported: Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters — some openly supporting Hamas and other terror groups — surrounded the White House on Saturday, vandalizing a statue and assaulting a U.S....

Today Monday June 10th, Tucker Carlson announced his first ever national arena tour, TUCKER CARLSON LIVE 2024, a Tucker Carlson Network (TCN) Production, Presented by Sambrosa.com and brought to you by Swan Bitcoin. As the presidential election unfolds this fall, Tucker will be reacting live to the latest developments and joined on stage by some of the smartest, most interesting people in America. "I can't wait to take our show on the road in cities across America. We're going to be talking about real issues with real people. You'd better believe the Establishment will be losing their minds," said Tucker...

McLachlin has faced pressure to resign from court over concerns about eroding freedoms in Hong KongFormer chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Beverley McLachlin has announced her retirement from the controversial Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. McLachlin, 80, joined the court in 2018. She said she'll be stepping down from the bench to spend more time with her family when her term ends on July 29, 2024. "It has been a privilege serving the people of Hong Kong," McLachlin said in a media statement. "I continue to have confidence in the members of the court, their independence...

This is yet another aspect of the 2024 race where the normal rules don’t quite apply. Candidates typically want a potential vice president who can “balance” the ticket demographically, ideologically, or geographically. Even Trump succumbed to this thinking in 2016: Mike Pence got the gig because he was a boring, midwestern, ultraconservative Christian with some governing experience — basically the opposite of the erratic, boorish New York TV personality. But this concession to the RNC ultimately backfired (in Trump’s mind) because Pence wouldn’t participate in his January 6 coup attempt. Now that Trump’s GOP takeover is complete, he’s free to...

Scores of people were seen leaving Donald Trump's rally in Las Vegas early while the former president was still speaking on stage. A clip posted onto X, formerly Twitter, showed large numbers of Trump supporters exiting the area where Trump was speaking in Nevada on Sunday while the former president was delivering his remarks

Special Operation Forces Week in Tampa is the premier gathering event for all things related to Special Operations. On May 9, 2024, at the most recent event in Tampa, there was a session on “Operations in the Information Environment (OIE) Symposium”. This title is simply another name for Psychological Operations (PSYOP). Having been to the PSYOP Course at Ft. Bragg (now Ft. Liberty) in 1984, this panel caught my attention. The name, functional areas, doctrine and tactics have evolved a bit since PSYOP was first introduced in the 1950s to fight Soviet Communism that was on a post-World War II...

(NewsNation) — Bonnie and Bob Krall are a married couple who got through the COVID-19 pandemic with relative ease. Bonnie had a couple of mild cases, and Bob had a case that brought no symptoms. “We were both healthy as can be,” said Bonnie Krall. “We had just finished a giant trip to the Western United States, we came back, and bam, Bob was diagnosed.” Bob didn’t have COVID but instead two very rare forms of cancer. Then, Bonnie got similar news. “I had an 8 1/2 pound tumor in my abdomen,” she told NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “I was...

The gatekeepers and women of the WNBA share an obvious, deeply rooted disdain for Caitlin Clark. See how they treat, speak of, and undermine her. Clark, a straight white woman, is the main protagonist in a league most proud of its elevation of black lesbians. However, it's not just Clark's identity that stirs animus from other players. It's also her lack of self-guilt. Let us explain: Women in the WNBA suffer from a variant of white derangement syndrome (WDS). How does WDS work? Former ESPN host Bomani Jones, who long fell chronically ill to the mind virus, explained last year....

In a video received by Independent Political Report earlier today, former Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential nominee Wayne Allyn Root (who ran with 2008 presidential nominee former Congressman Bob Barr) claims credit for “masterminding the suicide of the LP” as a result of his role in arranging the speech by former President Trump to delegates attending the 2024 Libertarian presidential nominating convention... A partial transcript of his remarks follows; a link to the full video can be found below. ROOT: Trump did something historic last Saturday. It’s long forgotten; . . . He was willing to address a hostile audience, get boos,...

TV shows like Yellowstone and Longmire and stars like Beyonce have helped to make cowboy fashion popular again. That's good for Wyoming stores as tourists are spending big money on hats, art and all things western. Steam flies at a busy Kemo Sabe store in Jackson, where workers are putting the right shape on hats for waiting customers. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) JACKSON — Mary Sullivan of Colorado says she’s not normally one to “pull the trigger” on an ultra-expensive cowboy hat, but last weekend she was one of dozens of customers swarming the Western-chic Kemo Sabe hat shop....